{"id":13123,"date":"2021-03-10T18:00:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T18:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=13123"},"modified":"2022-04-27T13:55:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T12:55:33","slug":"boulders-pebbles-can-stop-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/boulders-pebbles-can-stop-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"5 strategies to help you avoid burnout at work"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re working in a fast-paced industry, it\u2019s all too easy to reach burnout \u2013 no matter what role you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

And when you work on multiple concurrent projects and across lots of teams, the risk of burnout isn\u2019t just high, it can feel inevitable. Many individual contributors (such as researchers, visual designers, content strategists, data scientists) who work horizontally across teams can be viewed as an infinite resource. We come in, we work our magic (usually in a short space of time) and then leave again to do the same on another team.<\/p>\n

What is burnout?<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a lot of conversation around what burnout actually is, and discrepancies between definitions can make it harder to spot the signs. According to WebMD<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Burnout is \u201c\u200b\u200ba form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped. It’s a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s not always the case, but burnout is often associated with work. A person\u2019s risk of burnout at work depends on a range of factors, and personal habits and practices are just a small part of the puzzle. Nevertheless, strategies for effective workload management can help, even if there are external influences that are outside your control.<\/p>\n

Breaking the vicious cycle of impossible deadlines<\/h2>\n

Sometimes when we\u2019re working in a \u201cservice\u201d function, we do ourselves a disservice. We essentially \u201cdrop into\u201d a project with an unrealistic deadline, get the work done regardless, and then leave. And we wonder why stakeholders expect the work to be done faster and faster, with tighter deadlines? It can quickly become a vicious cycle. But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n

There are lots of different strategies to help you prioritize self-care and avoid burnout at work \u2013 these are even more important in the world of remote or hybrid work, where the divide between work and life blurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunicating your process to other teams and colleagues, and clearly setting realistic, sustainable expectations, is key to protecting yourself from becoming over-burdened\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Communicating your process to other teams and colleagues, and clearly setting realistic, sustainable expectations, is key to protecting yourself from becoming over-burdened. Establishing an understanding of not only how much work takes place, but how long it takes and how your projects are prioritized<\/a> can drastically change your work life as an individual contributor. Here are some useful tips to monitor your workload and guard against burnout at work.<\/p>\n

Make your roadmap visible to everyone<\/h3>\n

The first step to communicating your process is making sure your project roadmap is transparent and visible to everyone. This can be straightforward, for instance, if you have your roadmap in Coda<\/a> or a spreadsheet, ensure that it\u2019s accessible for everyone in the company. Then you can link to the overall team roadmap on your internal team page or pin it to your team\u2019s Slack<\/a> channel, depending on how your team works.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a person isn\u2019t aware of what else you\u2019re working on, they could assume you just don\u2019t want to work on their request\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you’re an individual contributor who works horizontally across teams, it\u2019s imperative that your colleagues understand that you collaborate on multiple projects, not just theirs. This will help immensely when you have to turn down a project, extend a deadline, or downsize your workload. If a person isn\u2019t aware of what else you\u2019re working on, they could assume you just don\u2019t want to work on their request. This can lead to tension, creating a stressful environment and increasing the risk of burnout at work.<\/p>\n

Offer realistic timelines<\/h3>\n

Understandably, most people don\u2019t have an in-depth knowledge of the nuances and intricacies of other disciplines. As a result, they can greatly underestimate the time commitments required by various projects. To resolve this, consider sharing estimated timelines for different types of work that you do. For instance, you might include a timeline in every research plan to raise awareness of what goes into each research project. By highlighting all the critical building blocks of a project that might be invisible to colleagues, you create more realistic expectations around your bandwidth. That in turn leads to more reasonable expectations of your ability to commit in future.<\/p>\n

Practice the art of the \u201cpositive no\u201d<\/h3>\n

Protecting your time means occasionally saying no. So how do you respond to a request that you\u2019re unlikely to be able to prioritize? Without a strategy, you\u2019re more likely to get pulled into projects you can\u2019t realistically accommodate. Enter the \u201cpositive no.\u201d<\/p>\n

This term was made popular by author William Ury in his book The Power of a Positive No<\/em>. The concept is pretty simple \u2013 a positive no consists of a \u201cYes! No. Yes? statement.\u201d In Ury\u2019s words: \u201cThe first Yes! expresses your interest; the No asserts your power; and the second Yes? furthers your relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a team requesting more of your time or resources than what is possible, it\u2019s important you don\u2019t dismiss those requests by saying \u2018<\/span>No, I can\u2019t work on that.\u2019 straight away\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When you have a team requesting more of your time or resources than what is possible, it\u2019s important you don\u2019t dismiss those requests by stating \u201cNo, I can\u2019t work on that.\u201d straight away. This isn\u2019t going to help with building meaningful relationships with other teams. Let\u2019s face it, these requests are inevitable \u2013 not every project can be precisely scoped out far in advance, after all. Instead, respond with something like \u201cThat sounds like a great idea. Can we chat more about this to see if I can fit it into this cycle?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another technique that works well has been used in improv. comedy<\/a> for years whereby you respond to requests with \u201cYes, and\u2026\u201d instead of \u201cNo.\u201d This directs you away from a negative mindset when faced with a difficult request, while allowing you to shape the level of your commitment.<\/p>\n

Introducing these techniques should make these tough conversations around bandwidth easier to handle. Instead of shutting people down, they open up the conversation to gauge what they need, while also communicating what your constraints are.<\/p>\n

Treat any ask as a request before committing to it<\/h3>\n

You\u2019re probably going to find that even when you proactively share your roadmap and practice the art of the positive \u201cNo\u201d, sudden ad hoc projects will still arise. When faced with more demands than you can handle, a valuable approach is to differentiate between broad requests and actual projects that need to be worked on.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis can be a great forcing function for colleagues to think deeply about the ideas they have, so that it\u2019s no longer a fuzzy concept but a well-considered idea\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ask colleagues who are making requests on your time to outline why it is a priority. This crucial step will dissuade other teams from approaching you before their needs are fully scoped. On the Content team, for example, if we received a request to produce a customer guide, we might ask that teams scope out requests by asking questions like:<\/p>\n